In Charge
by au.stories
Summary: (Short Story) When Wyatt's ex-girlfriend turns out to be a witch, he gets assigned to her as her whitelighter. That alone might not be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that she has no clue about what she is. Now Wyatt has to deal with breaking the news to her and keep her safe.
1. New Charge

Wyatt sat at the kitchen counter in his childhood home and watched his mother doing what she enjoyed most - cooking. This time she was trying a new recipe for a special soup and he was the willing test subject.

"Alright, try this."

Piper handed the spoon over to her son and watched him closely for his reaction. Without hesitating Wyatt shoved the spoon into his mouth and tasted the delicious, warm liquid.

Wyatt could do a lot of things, he was very powerful, yet so hopeless when it came to something as simple as cooking. Chris was the one who took after their mother in regards to things like these.

"This is fantastic, mom. You should definitely add that to your menu at the restaurant."

Piper smiled at her son, "Oh, I'm planning to."

White and blue orbs filled the kitchen and just a moment later Paige stood at the kitchen counter.

"Hey, what have you been up to?" Piper greeted her sister with a smile.

"I've just had a meeting with the Elders."

"Oh no, what do they want now?"

"They informed me that Wyatt is getting a new charge. The tricky part is that the witch doesn't actually know she's a witch. Since I have some experience in this area, I would advise you to break that kind of news gently."

"And they couldn't tell me this themselves?" Wyatt was confused about this. He had a few charges and until now he always personally received the message of who he gets assigned to.

Paige shrugged and poured herself a glass of water, "Oh, you know them, who knows what reasons they may have."

Piper narrowed her eyes at her sister and Wyatt noticed. So he wasn't the only one suspicious.

"Okay, what aren't you telling?"

"What? Me? Nothing." Paige waived away the accusation and took a huge gulp of water. "There is nothing wrong. In fact, you should be on your way now. The longer she is in the dark, the more danger she is in."

And with one wave of Paige's left hand, Wyatt was being orbed out of the kitchen. No sooner was he gone, Paige tried to change the subject and took Wyatt's previous place at the kitchen counter.

"Oh, what smells so good? Can I taste that?"

Piper handed her sister a spoonful of her soup, "Don't think I don't know something's up."

Paige sighed, "Well, you know, this family has a bit of a history with witches and whitelighters and them getting mixed up...romantically."

"So what? Are they afraid Wyatt is going to fall for his next charge?"

"They just wanted to make sure that someone else knew about his new charge and could maybe help, should it be necessary."

"I don't understand."

Paige shrugged and tasted the soup, "You will."

 **xxxxxxxxxxx**

Wyatt needed a couple of seconds to adjust to his new surroundings. It didn't happen often that he was orbed around without warning. Usually, he liked to do that to others. Quite a fun way to end an argument, unless the person was able to orb back, like Chris for example.

He blinked and recognized the hallway he had landed in, but that only added to his growing confusion. Was it a coincidence? Normally he wouldn't believe in those. If he had learned anything from his family, it was that things happen for a reason.

There was really only one way to find out, so Wyatt knocked on the familiar door in front of him. It didn't take long and the door swung open, clearly surprising the other person.

"Hey, you're a little early..."

By the way her words trailed off, Wyatt could tell she had definitely expected someone else to knock on her door.

"Wyatt? What are you doing here?"

What was he doing here? Oh right, we was here to tell his ex-girlfriend that she is a witch and as of right now his charge. That should be explained easily enough, right?

Maybe he was wrong about this, but even as he thought it he just knew it was her. Why him, though? Couldn't they have sent another whitelighter? His aunt, his brother, or better yet someone completely different.

"Hey, Grace. How are you doing?"

Wyatt knew that had sounded lame, but he wasn't sure what to say now that she actually stood in front of him. She looked just like he remembered her. Long dark hair, big green eyes and she didn't suddenly get taller either. Physically nothing had changed. How could she be a witch? How had he never suspected anything before?

Grace shook her head, "I don't have time for this."

Grace was about to shut the door again, but Wyatt stopped her.

"I just wanted to make sure you we alright, that's all."

"I haven't seen or heard from you in almost three months. I don't need this right now."

"Alright, I'll leave."

"Bye, Wyatt." This time Wyatt didn't stop her from closing the door.

 **xxxxxxxxxxx**

Back at the Manor, Wyatt let the door fall shut behind him. He had walked most of the way back. It had given him time to think. When he walked into the living room, he noticed Paige sitting in the armchair. Her head shot up and she immediately asked him how it went.

"You couldn't have given me at least a little bit of a warning?"

"I figured it would be best to just throw you in and stand by in case you need help. I guess she didn't take it very well?"

Paige had felt bad about it, but she didn't really see a way to make it easier for her nephew. Maybe he could ask the Elders to reassign another whitelighter. Of course they had chosen Wyatt specifically because of his connection to Grace, so they might not be willing to do that.

"I didn't tell her."

"Why not?"

Wyatt let himself fall back onto the couch and tried to explain, "For one, I was a little shocked to find out that my ex-girlfriend is a witch. Grace also is not exactly my biggest fan right now. I couldn't just say _'Congratulations, you're witch'_ and not have her declare me insane."

Paige frowned, "Oh, I wasn't aware that it had been a bad break-up. I would have probably changed my tactic then."

"It wasn't bad exactly...it was...well, there were a lot of things I couldn't explain."

Paige knew what that was like. It didn't matter how much you wanted to, sometimes it was just not possible to explain to the people you cared about what reality really looked like. Most of the time they would only call you crazy anyway. As a result you lied to them about where you've been or why you had to leave so abruptly.

"But look on the bright side, you can tell her now."

That wasn't much of a consolation, Wyatt thought. He remained silent for a moment, lost in his thoughts again.

"Who's a witch?"

Wyatt and Paige's heads turned over to see Chris entering the room. He obviously had heard some of the conversation between his brother and his aunt.

"Grace is. You remember her, right?" Paige said simply.

"Grace? As in Wyatt's Grace?" Chris asked surprised. "Didn't see that coming. How did you find out?"

"Apparently I'm her whitelighter and she doesn't even know she's a witch," Wyatt sighed again, "And she's not my Grace."

"Right, you two are broken up."

Chris remembered that ugly break-up scene he had the misfortune to get caught up in. He had liked Grace and was genuinely sorry that it hadn't worked out between them. Must be awkward being your ex-girlfriend's whitelighter.

"Sucks to be you, brother. Call me if there is something I do to help."

"Hey, where are you off to?" Wyatt asked, only now noticing that Chris was carrying different bottles filled with colorful liquids.

"I have a potion to brew, but don't worry, it's fine. I'm not going demon hunting or anything." And with that Chris had orbed out.

Wyatt made a mental note to follow up on that with his brother later.

"Well, I have to go, too. The kids and Henry will be home soon." Paige gave her nephew an encouraging smile, "It'll be alright. You'll figure it out and just like Chris said, we're just a call away."

Wyatt nodded and waited until Paige was gone before he got up off the couch and set out to find the one person who always knew what to do - his mother.


	2. New Problem

Over the next couple of days Wyatt had kept an eye on Grace. He wasn't exactly following her around, but he was confident that his whitelighter senses would let him know if and when Grace was in any real danger. So far nothing had happened and why should it?

After the talk with his mother Wyatt was once again on his way to tell Grace that her life would never be the same again. How does one do that?

His mother, who always finds the right things to say to her children, wasn't actually much of a help this time. The talk he had with her had basically amounted to: Just get it over with, like ripping of a band aid.

After rounding the last corner Wyatt was almost in front of Grace's apartment building. Even from a distance he could see her standing outside of the door with a man. He was not as tall as Wyatt, he had brown hair, but he was athletically build and Wyatt supposed that his overall appearance would be considered attractive. Wyatt didn't like that thought.

He couldn't hear them, but she seemed relaxed and laughed at something the guy had said. Maybe he should have called ahead.

As he approached further, Grace noticed him approaching and turned. Her smile was slowly slipping off her face when she realized who it was.

"What are you doing here again?"

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by and say hello," Wyatt smiled and turned to the stranger, "I'm sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I'm Wyatt, by the way, nice to meet you."

"Tate."

For a brief moment Wyatt felt like he was being evaluated, but something in the way that guy looked at him made him feel like he had failed the test. Eventually Tate shook his head, "Of course not, I was just bringing Grace home from our date."

Wyatt wanted to roll his eyes at the way he had stressed the word _date_ , but continued in a normal voice, "That's great. You have a minute then, Grace?"

"We were going to..." Grace started to explain that their plans for today included more than just lunch, but before she could finish Tate interrupted her.

"Oh no, it's okay. Gives me time to finish my work. That way we'll have more time together later. I'll see you soon, okay?"

Grace wanted to protest, but Tate had already kissed her on the cheek and started walking down the street before she could get a word out. Frustrated she turned to Wyatt, "What? What is so damn important that you needed to chase Tate away?"

Wyatt looked at Grace apologetically, "Actually, I just remembered I needed to do something first. I'll be back and then we really need to talk. It's important, I promise. I wouldn't be bothering you like this otherwise."

"And what is so important that you have to take off again, leaving me standing here without an explanation?"

"I can't..."

"Yes, I know, you can't explain, it's a family emergency, someone needs your help...I have had it with you doing this, Wyatt."

"It'll all make sense soon, I promise."

Wyatt decided that there was no use in having this argument again and left Grace staring after him. He walked down the street the same way Tate had gone. He was still visible walking a little in the distance. The streets were too crowed to orb, so he started to jog after him.

He caught up to Tate just as he was turning into an alley. Wyatt wasn't actually sure what he was going to do, but something had felt off about the guy and Wyatt had learned to trust his instincts on these matters.

Apparently Tate must have had the same thought as Wyatt before regarding orbing in public because no sooner had he caught a glimpse of Tate in the alley, he was gone. He hadn't orbed, but rather disappeared completely in the time it took Wyatt to blink once.

Wyatt knew what that meant. Tate was a warlock.

 **xxxxxxx**

Wyatt arrived back at the manor moments later. The Book of Shadows still remained in the attic where it had been for so many years. Everyone had agreed it was safest to keep it here. Now he only needed to find that demon in the book and deal with him fast.

To Wyatt's surprise he found someone already standing in front of the book.

"Chris?"

Chris stopped staring at the page in front of him and looked up at his brother, like a child caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do. A look Wyatt remembered quiet well from when they were children.

"Hey, Wyatt, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

There was no point in trying to hide it from his brother any longer. In fact, he could use the help. Chris was surprised he's even gotten this far without Wyatt interfering. Then again, Wyatt had been occupied with the whole Grace business.

Chris took a deep breath, "Okay, but don't get mad. I know that we agreed we wouldn't go and actively seek out demon problems. Things have been quiet lately and no one has tried to kill us in a while."

Wyatt crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded, waiting for his brother to continue.

"Witches have been dying all over the city lately. They were quiet deaths, you know, nothing suspicious about them. Unless you count the fact that they were all witches."

"If there were no signs then how..."

"...did I find out? Some of my contacts made me aware that there might be something more to it."

Wyatt could guess what kind of contacts that were, but he let it go. Chris knew very well that Wyatt didn't approve of some of his acquaintances, he distrusted them because they were residents of the underworld, but Chris always thought it was best to keep pursuing all avenues. He wasn't stupid enough to believe they were on the same side, but occasionally they could be of service to each other.

"Just tell me you did not involve Melinda in this."

As the oldest of the siblings Wyatt had always felt that he needed to protect Chris and Melinda as best as he could. It didn't matter that they were powerful themselves, he just wanted to make sure they stayed alive and safe.

"What? Of course not!" Chris had said nothing about it to anyone. He wanted to wait until he was sure what he was dealing with.

"What are you looking for?" Chris asked to finally change the subject.

"There is a warlock after Grace. I wanted to see if he was in the book," Wyatt explained while stepping beside Chris to see what his brother was hunting. The drawing of a warlock stared back up at him. A face he had seen only minutes before.

Wyatt frowned, "This is him."

Chris looked up at his brother in surprise, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I have just met him. Apparently he was on a date with Grace. I think he might have caught on to me being a whitelighter or a witch. I followed him, but he had blinked before I could find anything out."

His brother sounded distracted, Chris thought. He watched Wyatt study the page in the book for a moment. It didn't say much. The warlock's name is Cadoc and apparently had been around for a while and collecting powers from witches, most of them new to the craft. It would be easier to get to them, but it also meant that the powers he obtained were weaker, underdeveloped.

According to the book he wasn't exactly a huge threat, however, depending on how many powers he has stolen so far, he might have stepped up his game.

"So you followed Grace and her date? Really?" Chris fought the grin spreading across his face, but the thought of his brother being jealous of some guy who was dating his ex-girlfriend was just too funny.

"What? No, I went to talk to Grace and he happened to be there. I didn't follow them, only him." Wyatt felt the need to defend himself. He knew what his brother was hinting at.

Wyatt scoffed, "Please, the guy is a warlock. I'm not jealous of a warlock."

"If you say so. Does that mean you still haven't told Grace?"

"Yeah." Wyatt winced at the memory of Grace watching him walk away without any kind of explanation.

"Then you go and get Grace and I'll check the book for a vanquishing spell, maybe a potion or two. We'll meet back here in an hour. What do you say?"

Wyatt nodded and agreed with his brother. It was time he finally talked to Grace.

 **xxxxxxx**

Turns out Grace was no longer in the mood to have any kind of conversation with Wyatt other than telling him to get lost. Wyatt didn't let that stop him and kept on banging on her door until she finally opened up. He still felt that it wasn't right to barge in. He didn't want to scare her.

"Go away!"

"Can I please come in?"

"No, you can't come in. Are you really going to make me call the police? Leave!"

Wyatt stopped the door that came rushing towards his face. "Tate isn't what he seems. He's dangerous, Grace."

"You don't even know him."

"I know enough."

"Is that it? Are you jealous? Because you have no right to be. Is this what this is all about? You don't like it that I'm seeing another guy so you make up wild stories?"

"No, that's not what I'm doing," Wyatt defended himself, but admitted that it did kind of looked like it.

"Can you please let me in? I need to talk to you."

"So you keep saying." Grace blew out some air and said in a more gentler voice, "Wyatt, we broke up. This is me moving on, you should try it, too."

Wyatt ignored that, "What would you say if I told you that you were a witch?"

"I'd say that it's a little late to call me names now."

"No, you don't understand what I mean."

Grace sighed, "What do you mean, Wyatt?"

Wyatt took a deep breath, "You are a witch and you're in danger. You need to let me in and explain to you what's going on."

Grace stared at Wyatt, trying to make sense of what he was telling her. He seemed seriously concerned, but none of this made sense. He couldn't possibly believe that she would fall for this.

"Okay, I'm a witch. Let me guess, the mailman is a goblin and my neighbors are really fairies."

Wyatt rolled his eyes. Of course she wouldn't take him seriously. Not really a surprise, it does sound crazy. Having been born a witch-whitelighter magic and everything that came with it always came natural to him. Nothing was too weird to believe.

While Wyatt was still staring up at the ceiling, Grace gave her door a little push and closed it. The soft click of the lock made Wyatt look back down again, facing a closed door now.

He sighed again, time for Plan B.

Grace had just turned around and was going towards the kitchen when a bright bluish light suddenly cut her way off and made her stop in her tracks. When the light had subsided Wyatt stood in front of her.

Grace blinked a couple of times to make sure she had really just seen that happen. She touched him to make sure he was real.

"What? How did you...?"

"This is called orbing. Whitelighters can do that."

"White...what? What is happening? Am I going crazy? I don't...how..."

Wyatt held up his hand and cut Grace off, "We don't have time for this. I need you to come with me before Tate comes back. I'm pretty sure he sensed something about me, which might make him come after you sooner than later."

Before Grace could say anything else, Wyatt grabbed her and orbed them both back to the manor. Hopefully Chris will have found something by now.


	3. Potions Go Poof

"What the hell..."

In a way Grace felt like her entire body had been dissolved and then put together again, except she now stood in the living room of the Halliwell manor instead of her apartment. She recognized the place, she had been here. How was that possible?

"Alright, don't freak out."

Grace looked up at Wyatt. She wasn't close to freaking out, instead she felt like she was going to throw up. Her legs felt tingly and her knees gave out for a second. Wyatt caught her around the waist and steadied her, guiding Grace over to the couch.

"Orbing takes some getting used to."

"I don't think I want to get used to that."

Wyatt laughed and helped Grace sit down. He noticed how she took a couple of deep breaths and was hoping she wasn't about to fall into complete panic.

"Are you alright? The nausea should dissipate quickly."

"That's not it," Grace said, "All these crazy things you said about me being a witch and you a white...something, that's all true? I mean, how else would this have really just happened. I'm not crazy, right?"

Wyatt smiled, "I'm afraid you're perfectly sane and this is all very real."

Grace closed her eyes for a moment. She was afraid he would say something like that, but she also remembered that he had tried to warn her about something.

"You said I was in danger. Did you mean Tate by that?"

"Tate is a warlock, that means he's evil."

"Evil," Grace mumbled. Not exactly a word she would use to describe a person. Was a warlock a person? It all still sounded so surreal. Magic, witches, orbing...what else was to come?

Wyatt, who had taken a seat on the coffee table across from Grace, was still smiling at her. He couldn't help it, he had missed her a lot after they had broken up. Grace had been so angry with him after all the missed dates, cancelled plans and his unbelievable explanations for it all. His family was big, but just how many family emergencies could one person possibly have? Wyatt just wasn't a very good liar.

"What is it?" Grace asked.

"Nothing, you're just taking this better than I would have expected."

"I don't think it has really sunk in yet."

Chris came down the stairs in that moment with the Book of Shadows in his hands. he took one look at grace and recognized the slightly nauseas look on her face. Witnessing people orb for the first time was always fun.

"Hey, Grace, welcome to the craziness," Chris winked at her and laughed, "How does it feel?"

"Hey, Chris," Grace smiled back, "I'm very confused and not really one hundred percent convinced."

Wyatt stood up and took the book from his brother, "Did you find something?"

"I found a vanquishing spell Aunt Phoebe has used before to kill a warlock. Should work on Cadoc, too, I guess. Also I found some stunning potions and even one that can stop him from blinking."

"That's good."

Grace listened to the brothers discussing their next moves. They talked about killing a warlock and making potions like it was nothing more than another day at the office. As if they had done it a hundred times before.

"Why is Tate after me? What did I do?"

"Nothing, probably. He wants to steal your power," Chris explained and turned to his brother, "But why wait so long? I mean, she didn't meet him today, right? He's had some time to make his move."

Wyatt shook his head, "But Grace didn't even know she was a witch. She hasn't actually shown any signs of an active power so far. Can't steal what's not there. He might have been waiting for something to manifest."

"The warlock must have picked Grace for a reason. Maybe he knows what her power is, maybe it's a family thing."

"What's an active power?" Grace asked confused.

Both brothers looked at Grace as if they just remembered that she was still here with them. Wyatt tried to explain, "Powers are categorized into passive and active. Passive powers are always in effect and don't need to be consciously activated, unlike active ones."

Chris nodded along with his brother's explanation, "For example I can move things with my mind. I can do that either by concentrating on an object or by using a hand movement."

Chris waved his right hand and willed the cushion beside Grace to fly halfway across the room. Grace, not having expected that, jumped up off the couch and eyed the cushion suspiciously before looking back to Wyatt.

"And you can do this orbing thing?" Grace's hand automatically flew to her stomach, still remembering how that hat made her stomach turn.

"Actually, Chris can do that, too. It's a whitelighter thing, not a witch power."

"So, you're a witch and a whitelighter? Whatever that means."

Chris clapped his brother on the shoulder and explained, "Wyatt is a bit of an all-star. He can do a lot of things due to his projection power."

Wyatt rolled his eyes, "Don't make it sound like that."

"I'm not the one who created a dragon out of thin air..."

"I will never live that down, will I? I was just a baby!"

Dragon?! Grace shook her head. This was way too much information and none of it made sense. She took a deep breath and tried to get the attention of the biggering siblings again.

"So what is it that I'm supposed to be able to do? What's my active power?"

"Well, we don't know," Wyatt admitted reluctantly, "Since you don't know either, that means we just have to wait until it shows. The important thing is that you are safe."

"So I can't go home?"

"Not for now, no."

Grace sighed and blobbed down on the couch again. This day had started out so nicely then turned weird and crazy in one single moment. The rational side of her still tried to find some logical explanation for the things she saw and experienced today, but so far no luck. Maybe after she had a nice nap the world would make more sense again.

"Guys, can I lie down for a bit?"

"Of course."

Wyatt brought a blanket over that was draped over the armchair and handed it to Grace and smiled, "Don't worry, you're safe here."

Grace nodded, feeling oddly comforted by Wyatt's words. It didn't take her long to drift off after she had closed her eyes, falling into a dreamless slumber.

 **xxxxxxx**

A loud bang woke Grace from her sleep with a start. She was immediately alert and checked her surroundings. It did take her a couple of seconds to remember that she was at the manor and not her apartment.

There was the noise again, but this time it sounded more like a small explosion, followed by a string of angry words. Grace pushed the blanket away and got up off the couch. She followed the voice to the kitchen, walking slowly, trying to see what's going on.

Grace identified the woman behind the counter immediately by her long dark hair that had some white streaks in them.

"Piper?"

Piper turned and greeted Grace with a smile, "Hey, did I wake you? How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I think." Grace walked closer, trying to see past Piper to see what was causing all the smoke. "Everything okay?"

"Oh, this?" Piper motioned to the pot behind her that was still emitting small amounts of black smoke, "That's fine. I accidently knocked over some lavender and it caused a reaction. Guess I need to start that over again unless..."

Piper started rummaging through the cupboards which were filled with all kinds of spices and other things in bottles that Grace couldn't identify. She needed up grabbing one of those unidentified bottles and put some of the liquid into the pot. It stopped smoking and changed its color from a dark blue to a light shade of purple.

"That's much better. Now what was the last ingredient again."

Grace's eyes landed on the huge book on the counter which Piper reached for. It was the one Chris had been carrying down earlier. It was turned to a page which listed all the needed ingredients for a potion that would stop a warlock from blinking.

Why would someone need to be stopped from blinking? It wasn't until Piper answered her that Grace realized she had asked that out loud.

"It's how warlocks get around. They blink and they're gone."

"Like orbing?" Grace guessed.

Piper looked up and smiled, "Yes, but a lot faster and this will stop them from getting away. Can you hand me that jar over there?"

Grace did and watch Piper unscrew the lid. She had no idea what she was doing here. No matter how many times she tried to understand what Wyatt had told her earlier, it didn't make sense. She should just go home and forget about all of this.

Her thoughts must have shown on her face because Piper walked over and put a hand on Grace's shoulder.

"Grace?"

"I'm sorry, this is all too much. You're a witch and supposedly I'm one, too. I'm standing in a kitchen, watching you brew a potion. I keep saying the words over and over again in my head, but it just won't make sense."

"Oh, trust me, I did not believe it at first either. Don't be afraid, Wyatt will guide you and help you understand. He's just extra worried right now because of the warlock."

"Where is Wyatt?"

"He's out with Chris. They'll be back soon." Piper smiled again and handed the jar back to Grace. "Come on, lesson number one: When a potion is done correctly it will make a little poof, if not...well, you heard the bang it made earlier."

Grace nodded, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Here take that spoon and throw one scoop in, but stand back a little."

Grace did as she was told, but still flinched when the smoke erupted from the pot. "That was a good poof, right?"

Piper nodded, "See, one potion down, one to go."

 **xxxxxxx**

When Wyatt returned to the manor he found Grace and his mom bend over the Book of Shadows. Usually no one was allowed to go near the book unless they were family. Wyatt knew that Piper had always liked Grace, but the fact that his mom let her read in it meant she trusted her. From where he stood Wyatt could see that they were looking at the page about Cadoc aka Tate.

"Unbelievable, I kissed that guy!" Grace pulled a face and a shiver visibly shook her body.

"Don't worry, honey, happens to the best of us."

Piper pulled a similar face to Grace's. Wyatt guessed she was remembering something from her past. He decided it was time to let them know he was back, "I see you two found something to talk about."

Both women looked up and Piper greeted her son, "I thought I'd show Grace who was after her, help her understand."

"I even made a potion today," Grace proclaimed proudly, "Well, your mom told me what to do."

"Don't sell yourself short. Grace is talented, she'll be brewing potions on her own before long. We also made dinner. Where's Chris?"

"He should be here soon."

"Good, I'll get Melinda and your dad, then we can eat." Piper left the room and Wyatt sat down beside Grace.

"You look better now. Before I left you had seemed overwhelmed."

Grace nodded, "I feel better. It's still crazy to even think about it, but your mom kept me occupied. She's great."

"She is." Wyatt grinned and stood up again, holding his hand out to Grace, "Come on, let's eat."

Grace took Wyatt's hand and followed him.


	4. First Demon Attack

The next morning had passed uneventful in the Halliwell Manor. Grace had stuck around and helped with breakfast and the clean up afterwards. Piper had invited her to stay at the manor until the situation was taken care of.

Afterwards Piper had left to check up on things in her restaurant and Leo, who also had been brought up to speed on the current situation, had gone to Magic School. A place that really existed, Grace had learned.

No sooner had Piper left Wyatt and, shortly after that, Chris had turned up again. Grace figured they were keeping an eye on her in shifts. At least that's what it felt like.

"Did you sleep okay?" Wyatt asked.

"There were thousands of things running through my head, but yes, eventually I did fall asleep."

Wyatt was relieved to hear that. After he had left her at the manor last night he was still worried despite the fact that he knew she was safest here with a Charmed One to keep an eye on her. He knew that eventually everything would start sinking in and he didn't want Grace to suddenly panic and take off.

"Good, I'll see if Chris is making any progress. Where is the potion you and my mom made?"

"On the table in the conservatory. I'll be right up and bring them along. I'll just put away the rest of the dishes."

Wyatt nodded and orbed upstairs and Grace watched him disappear. She still couldn't wrap her head around how this was even possible, but she did remember what it had felt like when they had orbed here yesterday. She shuddered at the memory and put the last plates away.

Afterwards she grabbed the little bottle from the table and wanted to go upstairs, but she found her way blocked by someone standing in front of the stairs.

"Hello, Grace," Tate said with a twisted smiled on his face, "Wasn't easy to finally get you alone."

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

Tate ignored her, "I'm guessing since you're now under the protection of your witch boyfriend, you must have your power by now. I thought there was something about that guy."

"I don't know what you're talking about." It wasn't exactly a lie. Grace still didn't know what her active power was supposed to be. "Why do you want it so badly?"

"Because it will make it so much easier to find the right people, to gain even more power."

That explanation told Grace absolutely nothing and she wondered why she was even talking to this psychopath. Tate held up his hand and an athame appeared.

"I promise, I'll make it quick."

"Wyatt!"

Before she could get another word out, Tate grabbed her by the throat and squeezed so hard Grace thought her head would pop off. Not being able to breathe was also a problem. Grace hoped Wyatt or Chris had heard her.

"Now, you shouldn't have done that."

The bluish light behind Tate told Grace that they had indeed heard her. As soon as they had orbed into the room, the boys had looked for the threat. Wyatt's heart missed a beat when he saw Tate chocking Grace with one hand and getting ready to stab her with the other. Luckily, Chris reacted faster. He threw his hand out and sent the demon flying away from Grace.

With the sudden movement Grace got jerked around, too. She stumbled and the bottle fell out of her hand and rolled away, but there was no time to go after it. A fight had broken out between the demon and the boys and Grace was trying not to be one of the things that got destroyed during it.

"It's rude to show up unannounced," Wyatt said.

"I don't care about the two of you. Just let me have the witch."

Tate shot an energy ball at Grace which she evaded barely by ducking. She heard something crash behind her, but didn't dare look what it was. From this position on the floor Grace caught sight of the little bottle with the anti-blinking potion inside. She crawled forward carefully, trying not to get struck by anything flying though the air.

The demon shot energy ball after energy ball at Wyatt, but he easily deflected them with his blue protection shield. Some of them went astray after hitting the shield and left a few marks on the walls or whatever else they hit.

After that it was Wyatt's turn to retaliate by thrusting his hand forward and sending the demon flying backwards right into the grandfather clock. Tate hit the floor with a groan.

"Throw it!" Chris yelled and Grace threw the bottle in front of the demons feet. It broke and released a blue vapor. Other than that nothing happened and Grace wondered if there shouldn't have happened more, but Chris didn't seem to be concerned, he even had a little smirk on his face.

"No more blinking for you, though guy."

Tate tried just to make sure the witch wasn't bluffing. When he blinked and nothing happened he got angry, but not as much as expected. He didn't seem to be worried about being trapped either.

"That changes nothing, I'm still getting her power."

The next energy ball that came flying towards Grace send her flying back and crashing into a table. He had hit her on her shoulder, but not with intention to kill her. He still needed her power first.

"Chris, the spell!" Wyatt shouted as he made his way over to where Grace had landed on the floor.

Chris fumbled for the piece of paper he had in his pocket, but he wasn't fast enough.

"This isn't over," Tate said as he started to fade away. He had literally disappeared into thin air. Grace blinked a couple of times to make sure she had really seen what just happened or if it maybe had to do with her throbbing head and blurry vision.

"You got to be kidding me, he stole a Fading power?" Chris signed and shook his head, "So much for that blinking potion."

They had been surprised by his attack, but still should've been better prepared. Tate had been at this for a while, of course he would possess more powers than the average warlock.

"Grace, are you okay?" Wyatt grabbed Grace's arm and pulled her up to a standing position.

Grace felt a little dizzy and touched her right temple. Her fingers were immediately sticky with blood. "My head collided with the edge of the table."

Wyatt frowned and inspected the wound closely before he brought his hand up to Grace's temple. A white light started to radiate outwards from his hand, healing the wound completely. Grace felt the warmth and the pain immediately started to subside. When she touched her temple again there was no more blood.

She smiled at Wyatt, "Well, that's a handy power."

Wyatt grinned at her and kissed her forehead. He hadn't thought about what he was doing, it was simply something he used to do a lot when they were still together. Realizing his actions, Wyatt froze and frowned. Chris chose this moment to slip out of the room and up the stairs. He had a demon to find.

Grace didn't seem to know how to react either, so she simply took a couple of steps to the side. She looked around the room and examined the destruction the fight had caused.

"So, this is what a family emergency looks like, I'm guessing."

"Yeah, this one's actually not so bad."

Grace raised an eyebrow . Tables overturned, glass shattered everywhere and the poor grandfather clock destroyed. If this was not so bad, what would bad look like? It would take a while to clean the whole mess up again and Grace thought Piper will not be thrilled once she finds out about the destruction of her house.

"At least I can see now why you would never tell me where you had to go or what was going on with you."

" _I need to go fight a demon_ didn't seem to be the right answer, even though it was the truth."

Grace nodded thoughtfully, finding a place to sit that was not covered in broken glass. Now that the adrenaline subsided, she had started to shake a little and her knees felt weak. She had survived her first demon attack, but she knew it wasn't over. Grace didn't want to think about that now. It was scary and she really needed to keep it together.

"Would you have ever told me about this if we hadn't broken up? I mean, if I wouldn't have turned out to be a witch."

Wyatt sighed and pressed his lips together for a moment, deciding how to put his next words.

"I had thought about it, I had wanted to. I know it wasn't fair to always leave you in the dark, asking you to trust me without ever providing an explanation that didn't sound made up. It would have been probably not so hard to make you understand, but there's more to it than just telling you I'm a witch and a whitelighter."

"What do you mean?"

"It's the danger that comes with being associated with my family. As long as you didn't know about it, it was easy enough to keep you out of it, but knowing changes things. Getting attacked by demons in our own home that's not exactly what every witch has to deal with on a regular basis. It has more to do with my family line and the power that comes from it."

Grace considered this for a moment. Now that she knew what he has to deal with, it was harder for her to stay mad at Wyatt. He had only been protecting her, but there was something more. She knew Wyatt and by the look on his face she knew he wasn't saying everything that was on his mind.

"But that isn't all of it. There's something you're not telling."

Wyatt didn't say anything for a while, just stared ahead. Grace thought she wasn't going to get any more answers when he took a deep breath and rushed his words out.

"If you hadn't believed me, if you hadn't understood, you would've declared me crazy and left."

"But I left anyway."

"Yes," Wyatt sighed again, "But I'd rather you be mad at me for something I lied to you about, then have you look at me as a complete freak."

Grace really wanted to assure Wyatt that she would have never done that. Sure she would have freaked out, but she didn't think she would have called him a freak or thought any less of him. All she had wanted was to know what was so important in his life and why she couldn't be a part of it when she was a part of everything else.

"You could've given me more credit than that. Look, I'm still a little confused, but so far I haven't run off or started screaming at you to stay away from me."

Wyatt smiled again. Grace had always liked that about him, he was a generally happy person, always able to smile.

"You're right. I can see now that even without being a witch you could've handled it."

Grace smiled back, "Alright, now that that's out of the way. What do we do now? I still don't know what exactly it is that Tate wants from me, but he's surely not getting it now."

"I say we find him before he come and tries again."

"You really think he's coming back? Wouldn't that be stupid? He saw what you and your brother can do."

"Trust me, they always come back."

Grace nodded, taking Wyatt's word for it. The sooner Tate was taken care of the sooner Grace hoped her life would be able to go back to normal. Not that she knew what normal would look like after this was over.


	5. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

As Grace was following Wyatt up the stairs to the attic, after she had declined his offer of orbing them up, she allowed her thoughts to wander a bit. It has only been a little over a day, but it felt like much longer than that. So much had happened, so much had changed.

She just had been attacked by a warlock who she thought was a just another good looking guy she had gone on a date with. And not to forget she was a witch now, or technically always had been, sort of. She still hadn't exactly figured out why this was happening to her now or what her power was.

It was crazy, but her mind was starting to accept this new reality and she even found herself eager to learn more. It felt like something had broken free inside of her. Something that had always been there, even if she hadn't known about it.

When Wyatt and Grace entered the attic they found Chris leaned over a small table. He was swinging a crystal over a map of San Francisco with a very concentrated look on his face. Wyatt walked straight to the book, ignoring what Chris was doing.

Grace figured that it was apparently something normal, even if she couldn't think of an explanation for why he was doing it. She didn't want to be the annoying newbie that kept asking all the stupid questions, so she took a seat on the sofa.

A very old looking hand mirror laying between the cushions caught Grace's eye and she reached for it. She inspected it, watching her own reflection. Something about it called out to Grace, maybe it were the ornaments on the edge of it or the fact that she was getting bored, but there was something about it.

However, the mirror was forgotten and abandoned on the sofa again when a couple of minutes later Chris groaned and let the crystal fall onto the map.

"It's no good. I can't find him anywhere. I swear if that guy stole a cloaking power..."

Wyatt frowned as he watched his brother for a couple of seconds before his eyes wandered over to Grace. They couldn't actually scry for a warlock, only the powers he stole. Tate had demonstrated a couple downstairs and the boys had enough experience with scrying for someone who possessed more than one power, but maybe if someone with a stronger connection to Tate tried finding him it might work.

"Let Grace try."

At the mention of her name, Grace's head shot up, "Try what?"

"Scrying," Wyatt said as if that explained everything. When he noticed the questioning look on Grace's face he elaborated, "It's a method used to find someone. Come here, I'll show you."

While Wyatt explained to Grace what she needed to do in order to scry for someone, Chris excused himself and went down to the kitchen. After he had peeked at a certain page in the Book of Shadows, he had another idea that might help them when they meet Tate again in their next fight. Chris just needed a few things that weren't up here in the attic.

Grace really tried to do what Wyatt told her, but after many tries nothing was happening still.

"What if I'm doing it wrong?"

"Well, let's try scrying for me. It works even better if you have something of the person you're looking for, but thinking of me should work in our case just fine."

Grace concentrated on Wyatt in her mind. This time the crystal immediately started swinging in circles that got faster as Grace moved over the map. Suddenly dropping on to a specific point on the map and staying there. On closer examination, Grace realized that it had landed exactly where the Halliwell Manor would be located on the map.

"That's really cool." Grace smiled and couldn't help but feel a bit proud for having mastered something new. Her smile faded again and she sighed, "But it won't help us find Tate, will it?"

Wyatt shook his head, "No, we won't find him this way."

Without warning small bottles and a couple of jars appeared in front of them on the table. Grace was so surprised by it she took a couple of steps back, but her brain was starting to recognize the blue orbs and she relaxed. Chris orbed into the attic soon after with his hands full of even more of the stuff. The different smells of the herbs made Grace's head spin a little.

"What are you doing now?"

"Next time we won't take any chances. I'll make a Binding Potion. This way the warlock won't be able to use any of his stolen powers anymore as well as his own," Chris explained and went to work. He grabbed a small cauldron and started mixing things together. Always keeping one eye on the recipe in the Book of Shadows.

Wyatt didn't seem so enthusiastic about the idea, "Do you even know how to do it properly?"

"It's in the book, it can't be that hard. Mom did it. I can do this."

Wyatt nodded and let Chris do his thing. Brewing potions was more Chris' forte than his.

"How long will it take?"

"I should have it ready by tonight."

Wyatt nodded, then looked up to the ceiling, slightly surprised. "I have to go. Davie is calling, I think he's in trouble again."

Chris saw the conflict on his brother's face. Wyatt didn't want to leave Grace now that Tate had actually made a move, but he also couldn't ignore Davie's call. Chris had always found it funny that his brother could project almost anything, deceiving people with it, and yet he was so bad when it came to keeping his feelings off his face. He was a terrible liar, too.

Chris had a little smile on his face and winked at Grace, "It's ok, I'll keep an eye on little Gracie here."

"What's going on?" she asked, confused.

"Davie is one of my charges. He's rather prone to finding trouble. I'll never know how he does it," Wyatt explained and orbed out with a slight alarmed look on his face.

Grace chewed on her lip, hoping everything would be alright while simultaneously wondering how many times Wyatt had had to leave when they were on a date or was cancelling their plans to help some other witch out of trouble. Now she felt slightly bad for being so hard on him. She wished she had known.

"Does this happen often?"

Chris shrugged, "It's part of being a whitelighter. We guide and help witches, we can hear them, sense them."

"Sounds like a busy job."

"It can be tricky balancing it all, especially since we're basically pulling double duty on top of being a Halliwell, but this is also how we grew up. To us it is normal, I suppose."

Grace nodded. There was no use in over thinking what had already happened. She needed to focus on the present now. She walked over to where Chris was working, ready to help anyway she could.

"Alright, show me what I can do."

 **xxxxxxx**

Far above San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge sat Wyatt, staring into the distance. This was actually a place his brother frequented whenever he needed to get away and think, but today it was Wyatt who had found himself up here.

After he had made sure Davie was no longer in any danger, he had wanted to go back to the Manor, but felt like he just needed a moment to himself. The only noise here was the wind that blew around him. It allowed him to think without anyone else interrupting.

Of course he was worried about Grace, but he also knew that she was perfectly safe with Chris. He was certain he would also feel if something happened to either one of them, so that put his mind at ease about that.

The last twenty-four hours were little more than a blur to him. Since the moment he had grabbed Grace and orbed her to the Manor he had been on constant alert, never knowing when the warlock might show up. As a result he hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

Wyatt felt it more than heard it when someone familiar orbed onto the bridge behind him.

"Checking up on me?"

"Well, I believe that technically I am your whitelighter, certainly taught you how to be one."

Wyatt turned and smiled up at his aunt Paige from where he was sitting and she took a seat beside him, watching the cars race by below.

"So tell me, how is it going with Grace?"

"The warlock already attacked her at the Manor, almost got her. She's with Chris right now and they are working on a power binding potion. We might have underestimated Tate a little bit. That's the name he's going with, by the way. He won't get away from us next time."

Paige smiled knowingly at her nephew, "Sounds like business as usual, but that's not what I've meant."

Wyatt laughed at that, he had figured as much. "Grace is taking it really well so far, she has hundreds of questions she's trying not to ask, but I know she wants to. I hadn't seen her for months. This is the first time we have really talked to each other."

Paige winced, remembering some of her messier break ups, "Is it very awkward?"

"A little. For the most part, we're both putting on smiles, ignoring all the ugly break up stuff. Once the threat is over and things start going back to normal...we'll see."

Paige put her arm around Wyatt's shoulder, "Well, at least it's all out in the open now."

Wyatt chuckled and leaned a little into Paige, "You told Henry you're a witch. How did you know it was right?"

"I didn't know, I just knew that I wanted a future with him and I could never have that unless he knew _all_ about me. That included me being a witch-whitelighter and all the craziness that is my life."

Wyatt listened to what his aunt told him. He knew the overall story of Paige and Henry. For them it had worked, but Wyatt had never quite found the courage to tell Grace. Of course that was no longer an issue now.

"I should probably go back and see if the potion is done."

"You know how to find me if you need me," Paige said and planted a kiss on her nephew's cheek before orbing herself off the bridge.

 **xxxxxxx**

Some noise from outside had woken Grace from her power nap. She had helped Chris make the potion as best as she could, which consisted of watching Chris do most of the work. He was a bit of a control freak, but it didn't matter to Grace because it gave her the perfect chance to ask some more of her burning questions.

She found it was quite easy talking to Chris and he tried to answer her questions as best as he could, only changing the subject when Grace's questions started to be less about magic and more about Wyatt. She guessed he was uncomfortable talking about the time after the break up and didn't want to betray his brother like that. Grace understood that and thought it was actually really cute.

By the end of the conversation Grace had learned more about such things as demon hierarchies and spell casting. Most of it went right over her head, but she filed as much information away as she could for later use.

Eventually Grace decided it was best to take a little break from it all. She got comfy on the sofa in the attic while Chris muttered about rhyming patterns and tried to write a spell that should help with their problem of locating the warlock. She must have dosed off without noticing.

When Grace stretched her limps out something was poking into her back. She reached behind herself and realized it was the hand mirror from earlier. She held it up and checked her reflection in it, smoothing her hair back into place. There was still something about it and she almost laughed out loud at her silly thoughts.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall..." Grace giggled. Wouldn't it be great if that actually worked?

"Can't you just show me where the hell that stupid warlock is? I want to go back home. I really need a change of clothes, you know."

Grace hadn't actually expected anything to happen, which is why she almost dropped the mirror when her reflection started to flicker and she suddenly saw someone different in the mirror. Yesterday she would have questioned her sanity, but today she knew this was really happening.

 **xxxxxxx**

Back at the Manor, Wyatt was greeted by a defeated looking Chris.

"I tried everything I could think of, but I still couldn't locate him. I even wrote a spell and it didn't work. Something is definitely protecting him from being called to us."

"Don't worry about it, we will find him," Wyatt tried to lift his brother's spirits, but he knew exactly how he felt. How hard could it be? "Is the potion ready?"

Chris nodded and briefly pulled the a small bottle from his jeans pocket. "It's done and ready to be used."

"Chris!" Both boys heard Grace running down the stairs from the attic. They met her halfway in the hallway.

"What is it?" Wyatt asked alarmed, but couldn't make out a threat.

"Good, you're back. You need to see this. It's him!" Grace was beside herself. She did not know how this was possible, but right now she didn't really care.

Chris leaned back when Grace practically shoved the hand mirror in his face. He grabbed her wrist and pushed her arm a little back, so he could see better. Except he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Grace was obviously displeased with the lack of reaction from the brothers, "Can't you see? It's Tate and he's up to something. There is a woman and I think Tate is after her."

Grace double checked the mirror and she still saw the warlock in it. No way was she imagining it. Wyatt took a look in the mirror next, but he couldn't see anything besides his own reflection. "Grace, I don't see anyone but myself."

"But I'm not crazy." Grace looked back into the mirror and still saw Tate and the woman. "They're right there, I swear."

Wyatt and Chris shared a look with each other and both nodded in understanding.

"What are you seeing?" Chris asked.

Grace gripped the mirror so tight, her knuckles started to turn white. "He's after her! Oh no, he wants to kill her. He had the same look on his face when he came after me."

"Can you tell where they are?" Wyatt asked, hearing the urgency in Graces voice. He believed that she really did see what she claimed to see.

"No," Grace said, frustrated. There was nothing of significance about the place she saw. As far as she could tell they could be anywhere in the city. "We have to go, we have to help her."

Grace looked between the brothers. They had to know how to help the poor woman. Chris looked like he was at a loss. Scrying hadn't worked, nothing else he had tried had worked so far.

Wyatt seemed like he was making his mind up about something. "I never actually tried it this way, but it's all I got right now. Grace, I need you to keep looking into the mirror and really focus on Tate. Imagine yourself being there with him, see yourself standing in the same place he is."

Grace drew her eyebrows together, but decided against questioning Wyatt about it and did as he told her. She still kept a tight grip on the mirror and focused her mind on what she saw. She wished herself to be there, she imagined herself standing right beside the woman Tate was about to attack.

Grace didn't even notice it when Wyatt touched her wrist with one hand and reached out for his brother's shoulder with his other hand. Blue orbs filled the room and all three of them disappeared.


	6. Vanquishing a Warlock

Wyatt wasn't entirely sure if this kind of orbing would work, but when he felt the familiar feeling of the blue orbs surrounding him he knew something was working. He had no idea where they would turn up and tried to brace himself for possible threats.

No sooner had he thought that, the trio had fully orbed to the location Grace's mind had taken them to. Wyatt was the first to see the ball of fire coming towards them and yelled out a warning while dragging his companions down with him. The flying fireball went over their heads and eventually crashed into the wall behind them. It appears they landed right between the warlock and the witch he was trying to steal powers from.

Being prepared now, Chris deflected the next fire ball coming their way. Wyatt pulled Grace with him behind a row of racks and took a quick look around. They seem to have landed in a small warehouse.

"What are you doing here?"

Tate was clearly not happy to see the Halliwells again, especially since they were ruining his hunt for more power. Chris answered him by throwing the warlock backwards against a wall with a flick of his wrist and found himself a rack to take cover behind.

The trio's distraction bought the witch Tate was after some time and Chris noted that she now was out of the line of fire. She looked at the newcomers questioningly, but was grateful for the help.

"Stay there, we're here to help," Chris called out to the witch and took her nodding as confirmation that she understood.

Chris signaled his brother that he was ready and held up the small bottle that contained the power binding potion. They both knew that in order for this to work, they needed to keep Tate occupied long enough. If he just disappeared on them again, they would be back to square one.

Wyatt nodded over to Chris, then turned back to Grace.

"Stay here."

Wyatt stepped out from behind the rack and watched as Tate picked himself up from the floor. He balled his hands lightly into fists, just to be ready for another attack.

Tate dusted himself off and laughed, "I guess since you found me and brought the witch she must have figured out her power."

Grace perked up her ears when she heard that. There were still so many questions she had about that. For example, how did Tate know about her? How could he know what her powers were?

Wyatt humored the warlock and engaged into conversation with him while Chris was sneaking around them to get closer.

"I can see why you want it. Should come in handy to be able to find everyone you're looking for, including enemies."

Tate laughed again, "That's true, it'll make a lot of things easier."

"Then how did you find me?" Graced asked as she stepped out from behind the rack.

"Grace, get back," Wyatt said, but was ignored.

Tate opened his hand and an athame appeared in it. "Oh no, please, stay. We still have something to finish, don't we?"

Grace realized she hadn't exactly done the smart thing, but she might as well go with it now.

"How did you know I was a witch, what my power was?"

Tate didn't answer right away, but he kept smiling to himself. Wyatt could have done something, like get Grace out of the way, but he wanted an answer to that as well.

"I tried killing your great-great-grandmother, I believe she was, but she was a sneaky one and got away from me. She had your power," Tate shrugged and continued, "I simply waited until someone in her family line would display any potential for what I was looking for. Finally someone did - you. Sorry, if that's not as exciting as you hoped."

Grace didn't really know how to process the fact that at least one of her ancestors was a witch. How could she have not known about that? How did that fact get lost along the years?

"Now I finally get what I want."

Tate threw the athame at Grace with a deadly precision. Wyatt simultaneously threw out his hand and a blue shield appeared in front of Grace, protecting her. The athame bounced off the shield and fell to the floor in front of Grace's feet.

Grace had let out a scream and screwed her eyes shut, but when no pain came she opened her them again, just in time to see Wyatt flick his wrist into her direction. Instantly she was surrounded by orbs that transported her to where the other witch was hiding. The slight queasy feeling returned in Grace's stomach, but she knew better than to get out of her hiding space again.

"You can't protect her forever. I'll be back and eventually I will get her."

As Tate was starting to disappear Chris, who had snuck up behind Tate, threw the bottle at the warlock's feet. "I don't think so. I say we end this right now."

"What was that? Another one of your pathetic potions?"

Chris smiled despite the insult, "Try getting away and see what happens."

Tate tried blinking and fading, but he never left the spot he was standing in. Then a terrifying thought entered his mind and he tried producing a fire ball to throw at Chris. Again, nothing happened.

"What did you do to me?"

Chris shrugged, "Oh, you know, only took your powers away...and I mean all of them. Wouldn't want you disappearing before the big finale."

"That's enough, Chris, let's get this over with," Wyatt said.

After Chris didn't have enough time the last time to read Phoebe's spell he had found in the Book of Shadows, he had learned the words by heart and started to recite them.

 _Evil is a faithful foe,_

 _but Good does battle best,_

 _We witches will, with these words_

 _waste the Warlock's Evil zest._

Wyatt had been paying attention to his brother's words and joined in with him. Both of them repeating the spell again did start to show effect on the warlock. By the third time they had said the spell, Tate stood in flames and was screaming.

Grace was watching as Tate was starting to disintegrate right before her eyes. With one last bang the warlock was gone and there was nothing left in his place except for a scorch mark on the floor.

Somewhere in her mind Grace had thought they would say the spell and Tate would maybe disappear or something. She hadn't expected for the whole thing to be so violent and, judging from Tate's screams, very painful.

Grace and the other witch came back out from their hiding place and walked over to the brothers.

"I don't know who you people are, but you just saved my life. I feel like a simple thank you isn't quite enough."

"Don't worry about that," Chris said and offered to give the witch a lift back to where she lived. She gratefully accepted Chris' offer and both of them orbed away.

Wyatt and Grace didn't leave the warehouse right away. Grace bend down and inspected the scorch mark the warlock had left on the floor.

"So that's what your life really looks like? Making warlocks go boom?"

She had said it with a joking note in her voice, but Wyatt also heard the slight shake in it. He knew she had never seen anything like this before, but still, she was holding up better than he would have expected.

"It's not an everyday occurrence, but it happens often enough to call it part of my life, yes."

Grace nodded and seemed to get lost in her thoughts. Wyatt gave her a moment to process and waited until she spoke again. "So I can do what the Wicked Witch from Snow White did to find her step daughter and have her killed?"

The metaphor was a little off, but Wyatt understood what Grace had meant by it. "Powers aren't good or evil, it depends on how you use them. The way you used them today was good."

Grace pursed her lips and thought it over for a moment before a small smile spread across her face.

"Well, it felt really good to help save someone's life. Even if I was stupid enough to put my own into danger. Thanks for saving me again."

Wyatt shook his head, "Yes, we need to work on your ability to listen to me."

Grace pulled a face, "Very funny."

Wyatt laughed and pulled Grace towards him as he started to orb them both back to the Manor.

 **xxxxxxx**

"I see my warlock hunters have returned."

When they reached the manor it was Piper who greeted them first. Chris joined them a moment later. He had come from the kitchen with a sandwich in his hand.

Grace immediately felt hungry. She hadn't eaten in a while due to all the excitement. Her appetite was only slightly dampened when she thought about what she had just seen. "Yes, I saw my first warlock go up in flames...good times."

"On the up side, you can go home again," Chris said.

"Don't worry, honey, it'll get easier with time," Piper smiled and told Chris to follow her to the kitchen to finish up dinner after she reprimanded him for spoiling his appetite with the sandwich. Chris protested on the way out, claiming he could still eat.

Grace sighed, "There are still so many questions I have. I don't understand how in my family there could have been at least one witch and I never even heard anything about it. Someone would at least have mentioned an ancestor that was a little loopy or something."

"That may have been by design. There was a time when my mom and her sisters didn't know they were witches. It might have been done to protect the family line from warlocks like Tate."

It was Wyatt's best guess. Grace would have to talk to her family about it, but he wasn't so sure about her getting an answer. Tate didn't mention which side of her family line he had been after. Clearly the magic had been passed on, but it seemed that it hadn't actually manifested until Grace.

"Either way, they'll probably think I'm crazy. It's not a conversation I'm particularly looking forward to."

"You don't have to rush into anything. First you can take time and get used to everything, then the hunt for answers can begin."

Grace smiled and nodded, it sounded like a good plan.

"And if you need any help, that's what I'm here for."

"You mean as my whitelighter?"

"Yes, that too." Wyatt grinned and did what he had wanted to do ever since he had seen Grace again. He closed the distance between them and kissed her. Grace was surprised by it, but eventually kissed Wyatt back.

After they separated, Grace was the first to say something, "Okay, getting confused again here."

"You know my secret now. There's still so much more, but now you know. And if you want we can discover the rest together. I know we can't just go back to where we were, but maybe you'll give me another chance?"

Before Grace could answer the front door opened and closed again with a bang. Wyatt turned to see his little sister enter and let go of the bags she was carrying. When she looked up she noticed Wyatt and Grace standing very closely together.

"Hey, Grace."

"Hey, Mel."

This is when Chris came back from the kitchen.

"I thought I heard the front door and you brought all your laundry as well. Mom will be thrilled."

Mel rolled her eyes and focused back on her other brother. She had thought Wyatt and Grace had broken up.

"Are you two together again?" Melinda asked, but could tell from their faces that there was a lot more to the story than she was realizing in that moment.

"Okay, what's going on? What did I miss?"

Chris put an arm around his sister and guided her towards the dining table, "You have some catching up to do. First of all, Grace is a witch. We also vanquished a warlock today."

"Wait, what?" Melinda sighed, "See, this is why being away at college sucks. I miss so much and you never tell me anything."

"I'm telling you now."

Wyatt turned back to Grace, "Quick warning, this is the other part of my life."

"I think I could get used to that."

Wyatt took Grace's hand into his and both followed the bickering siblings, smiling.

 **The End.**

* * *

 _This was only a short story and this is where I'll end it. Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


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